MovieChat Forums > Mississippi Burning (1989) Discussion > best line in the film...

best line in the film...

posted 19 years ago by HapppinessAZ
82 replies | jump to latest

"He didn't realize that being poor was what was killing him."

In other words all the racism from the poor whites was simply misdirected anger at a group of people (blacks) who had nothing to do with their situation. The wealthy Southern white establishment had always used that to maintain the social order of the South. Its no wonder in the last weeks and months of the Civil War, disillusioned confederate soldiers were talking about the conflict as a "rich man's war but a poor man's fight", for it was in those last days they finally realized they were being used as pawns by cotton kings and other wealthy elites who didn't want their ante-bellum plantation "eden" to disappear forever.

Great film...

[–] chadw01 15 years ago

Rattlesnakes don't committ suicide..

[–] Stranger_124 15 years ago

I say, "I have no more love to give! I have only anger in my heart today, and I want you to be angry with me! That I am sick and I am tired, and I want you to be sick and tired with me! I-I-I am sick and tired of going to the funerals of black men who have been murdered by white men! And I-I am sick and tired of the people of this counrty who continue to allow these things to happen!" What is an unalienable right if you are a negro? What does it mean, Equal Treatment under the law? What-what does it mean, Liberty and justice for all? Now I say to these people, "Look at the face of this young man, and you will see the face of a black man. But if you look at the blood shed, it is red! It is like yours! It is JUST... LIKE... YOURS!"

how that is delivered and shown in the film, voice-over, is perfect!

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] broccoli beats 15 years ago

Sh*t lester! What the *beep* is goin' on?!?

[–] lgforce 13 years ago

"Did you smile!"

[–] tryanhas09 13 years ago

Same thing goes on today, on a national scale. Best thing that could've ever happened to the top 1% after Bush screwed things up was to get a "Barack Obama" in the White House, so that struggling rednecks would direct their hatred at "Obama" instead of the rich, predominately white crooks on Wall Street & in industry who have shipped their jobs overseas, stolen their savings, and who want to loot their Social Security.

"Obama" hatred shields Wall Street from the comeuppance they'd have gotten if America had elected a "white Liberal" in 2008 determined to reverse Bush-Reaganism for the betterment of the North, South, Eastern & Western United States, not that Obama himself isn't doing all that he can to protect Goldman Sachs & Bank of America while trying to look like he's being tough on them, because he is.

But still, they hate him because he's "black", not because he's a corporate hack. Racism has always been used by one political party to win political battles. Now is no different. Wall Street is using what's directed against Obama to get what it wants as much as Republicans try to use it to be the ones to give the fat cats what they want.

"You suck."
- Sue Sylvester

[–] The_Dougster 10 years ago

But still, they hate him because he's "black", not because he's a corporate hack.

As widely as that misconception is accepted, at the end of the day it’s still crap! Obama isn’t taking substantially more heat from the right wing than Bill Clinton did. To hear some people go on like that, you’d think partisan politics began in January 2009 when Obama was inaugurated. Why'd you have to pollute a good thread with this vacuous nonsense?

[–] Kieselguhr 13 years ago

"This kid black was walkin his girlfriend home, and two white guys cutt off his balls"

I don't have the words but you know the scene in the shack where the black "specialist" gently persuades the mayor to talk, with nothing more than a styrofoam cup and a razor blade.

"Do you KNOW how much a man bleeds when you cut off his balls!".

This movie had lots of moments-of-truth, didn't it?

It wasn't a bit like "The Klansmen" at all.

[–] kornbread2000 12 years ago

Loved a heated Mr. Anderson to Mr. Ward "Don't you have the whole world to save?!!"

[–] t-basham-613-338353 12 years ago

"Make no mistake about it, deppidy. I'll cut your *beep* head clean off, and not give a *beep* how it reads in the report sheet."

[–] rubblebubblecake 12 years ago

I'm a little late to this, but my favorite is (not sure if it's word-for-word):

Anderson to Pell: Listen to me, you backwoods sh**-a** you. You gotta about 10 seconds to get the Sheriff out here or I'm gonna kick-in the goddamn door, ok? (Hackaman smiles). LOVE THAT!!

------------------------------
"One Pork Chop! ONE!!!"

[–] madmike007 12 years ago

"And you better get used to my boots on your chin."
I also like when Hackman kept calling Deputy Pell "Debbidy."

[–] Sonatine97 12 years ago

All of the above are great, memorable quotes. But I also quite liked Mayor Tillman (played by the very under-rated Lee Emery). He certainly came out with some pearlers. Not least.....

Mayor Tilman: "Fact is, we got two cultures down here: a white culture, and a colored culture. Now, that's the way it always has been, and that's the way it always will be."

Anderson: "Rest of America don't see it that way, Mr. Mayor."

Sheriff Ray Stuckey: "Rest of America don't mean jack *beep* You in Mississippi now."

"One must first get behind someone, in order to stab them in the back!"

[–] midev 12 years ago

There was a scene in the barber shop where the mayor said something like "The Negroes are not complaining". Hackman replied "No one dare".

I am a very decisive person, I think.

[–] susannah-683-177578 12 years ago

Can't remember word for word but something like this, Gene Hackman said the only time a black man can wave a stick at a white man and not get beaten or killed is during a baseball match!! He was telling the deputy and his pals in the barber shop i think.

TO IGNORE EVIL IS TO BE AN ACCOMPLICE TO IT